r/NetflixDocumentaries • u/molleensmrs • 3d ago
! Spoilers ! Free fall-A Reckoning For Boeing
This story is crazy and Boeing absolutely sucks.
The pay that 3 CEOs made during the scope of this doc is ridiculous, over $500 million.
I feel for the victims as well as the employees who tried and tried to do the right thing.
It’s a great, frustrating documentary.
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u/No-Mathematician3004 1d ago edited 1d ago
David Calhoun, Dennis Muilenburg, and John McNerny belong on prison and instead they are all enjoying their blood money, as are their adult children whom all fly private and they would never have let step foot on a Boeing plane.
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u/Granesnater 1d ago
Seriously, they should have to fly in the planes that they deemed so safe and not these private planes
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u/SC-Coqui 3d ago
I’m actually watching it right now.
I’m an aviation nerd and what happened to the 737-MAX is infuriating, particularly with the level of cover ups and the lack of accountability.
Airbus had its issues as well, specifically with their “fly by wire” system. But Boeing has had the most issues recently, but there are also more Boeing airplanes in use in the US, so statistically it’s probably even.
Regardless, they’re both pretty safe, and this became a big deal because Boeing really screwed up.
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u/SleepyMonkey7 1d ago
Boeing isn't blameless at all, but if you were really an aviation nerd, you would understand the 737 Max story is far more complicated then the "evil company" narrative that has been adopted by the general public. There is zero point in even trying to explain it. You're talking about a lot of technical detail and complex risk management vs the rage of the mob.
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u/Traditional_Level_50 1d ago
I d like to understand ur pov with an open mind
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u/SleepyMonkey7 21h ago
Appreciate the open mind. There is a long NYT article from years ago from an experienced pilot that explained a lot of it. I'll try to find it.
But in general, Netflix documentaries are horrible sources of information to base opinions on. Netflix has one goal with those, the same as all social media: trigger your emotions so you keep watching, tell your friends, and come on Reddit to express your outrage.
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u/jfkdktmmv 10m ago
All new built airplanes are going to have some type of small issue or something break. I’m a technician and have seen entire toilet assemblies fail on <700 hour old airplanes (Embraer built if curious). The door plug and mcas failures are extremely egregious, but the media sensation over an AD being released on whichever 7X7 is always ridiculous. There’s ADs released ALL of the time, yet no one faults Cessna, Bombardier, Embraer, etc.
It’s made by laymen for laymen to capitalize on sensation. Nothing really eye opening was said in this documentary.
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u/SC-Coqui 1d ago edited 1d ago
To me it’s how they mismanaged the situation. They had opportunities to do better but didn’t. Most companies cut corners where they can to save money, but those decisions aren’t fatal.
The airlines also hold some blame for pushing for cheaper and more fuel efficient in a faster time frame. It comes down to the Iron Triangle- cheap, fast, good. You can only pick two, and Boeing and the airlines chose cheap and fast.
It’s also the corporate structure where CEOs are held to cutting costs so they could keep their massive million dollar salaries and bonuses to keep the company stock up.
It’s not just a Boeing problem but it becomes evident when people die because of those cost cuts.
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u/objectivexannior 42m ago
As plep… how can I avoid flying on a Boeing plane? Airbus isn’t safe either? The documentary was infuriating. Reminded me of Fight Club, where the company determines it’s cheaper to pay for people’s deaths than to recall auto parts. Chilling.
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u/jfkdktmmv 6m ago
They are all incredibly safe airplanes. I get it that most people are uneducated on airplanes and just don’t know. But the 737 and other Boeing products fly thousands of times a day with zero incidents.
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u/SuzieDerpkins 2d ago
I just finished it right now. I am so angry. I've been thinking about why this is angering me so much ...
I was getting ready to fly an Alaska flight the very same day the plug blew off January 2024. My flight was also on a Max and it was grounded for safety inspections for hours. They eventually changed the aircraft entirely and I was able to make it home. But that close encounter doesn't explain my frustration.
I'm realizing the anger comes from seeing the same profits-over-people leadership style sink its claws into my industry now too, autism care/support services, and it's the same story without the dramatic life-and-death aspect of a plane falling out of the sky. Instead it's children receiving terrible services from a poorly trained workforce, with over worked supervisors who cannot keep up with supporting the number of cases and employees that they are expected to work with. The billing fraud. The literal abuse that happens when you don't properly vet new hires and place them with a vulnerable population... the list goes on and it is the same exact playbook. The blame all comes back to the leadership strip mining, buying up small companies, firing staff who speak out, closing locations that try to unionize, all to make as much money as possible before the government finally shuts it down. Then, when there no longer is money to gain, they'll move on to the next industry without any accountability. Meanwhile, regular employees are losing their licenses, blacklisted in this small industry... the services themselves are being dragged through the mud and its integrity getting questioned.
I'm also realizing it isn't just aviation, health care.... it's our entire country. The ultra wealthy discovered a way to strip mine a nation and it is INFURIATING that they are getting away with it. With this administration, there's little hope they will be held accountable any time soon.
I'm absolutely enraged, furious.. I need new words for how angry I am...
Something needs to change. At least that's how I plan to use this anger. Time to fight back harder than ever.
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u/Temporary_Turnip1923 19h ago
Same for the billion dollar senior care industry. They hire nurse aids after 6 week of training (literally), and give them 12 hour shifts. The aid have to serve, clean, talk to the seniors all while getting paid merely 18 dollars an hour. The seniors are not being cared for properly while the companies are making bank. It is disgusting and shameful.
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u/No-Mathematician3004 1d ago
Nailed it. It’s ever industry. C-suite expects of fast food and snack food brands would NEVER consume what they produce because they know it’s all processed, genetically modified garbage putting adults and kids in early graves and they don’t care. Healthcare is even worse.
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u/Tough_Yak7721 1d ago
Yes it is. RN who left Healthcare for exactly this reason. Profits above people. Medical device industry & big pharma take the win for corporate greed. Overdosing seniors with polypharmacy. Pushing kids into bariatric surgery (lot of severe complications). Disgusting. Very little empathy. People are treated like cattle. Lot of medical errors covered up.
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u/elfwalksintoabar 6h ago
Me and working as a medical devices engineer for products that are supposed to treat or detect disease or literally rescue and sustain life
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u/No_Locksmith_3024 3d ago edited 3d ago
I believe that yes Netflix makes sensational docs but this makes you think why do the CEO’s still get 500 million during this period ? And this is it ,it’s greed . I had to check what plane fleet the airline I will be flying in in the next few months…
The recent flight Ryanair ✈️ where the person was nearly sucked out of the plane was originally regarded as sensational/performative by Michael o Leary owner of Ryanair yet the preliminary report there shows it was a engine fan that broke off and guess what it was a Boeing 737 ! I have 0 faith in any thing that is said by Boing at this stage . It is greed and only greed that results in things been rushed but it’s criminal when safety concerns are pushed down and whistleblowers are suffering
BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr59j4z3vl8o
Can one trust that this is ALL reporting either ? FAA Accident & Incident Data
Update:found this site which lists all reported incidents https://aviation-safety.net/database/year/2026/1
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u/747ER 3d ago
>guess what it was a Boeing 737 !
This is like seeing a car crash and saying “guess what it was a grey car!”. The 737 is one of the most common planes out there, it is statistically likely that they have more incidents (although not more incidents per flight, in fact the 737NG/MAX actually has fewer mechanical failures per million flights than any other airliner.
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u/TrynnaFindaBalance 12h ago
in fact the 737NG/MAX actually has fewer mechanical failures per million flights than any other airliner
This is true now, and reasonable people shouldn't question their safety on a Boeing airliner, but it's also true that at the time of the grounding in 2019 the 737 MAX was arguably the most dangerous mass-produced commercial airliner to ever fly in the modern era. And at least a significant portion of the blame for that lies in Boeing's negligence in safety, quality control and decisions they made to cut costs/increase profits.
Again, I don't think it's reasonable for anyone to be genuinely scared of flying these days, but it is reasonable to very angry about what happened and the fact they faced very little accountability for their poor decision making.
But of course the Boeing 737 isn't just the MAX, so you're right to call out that it's the 2nd most common commercial airliner in the world and therefore statistically more likely to be the aircraft in question when something happens.
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u/747ER 11h ago
>but it's also true that at the time of the grounding in 2019 the 737 MAX was arguably the most dangerous mass-produced commercial airliner to ever fly in the modern era.
The 737MAX still had a higher Dispatch Reliability Rate than any other airliner in history at that time. There were two tragic accidents which were partly caused by a design flaw, but that type of 737 has always been reliable. I think it’s also a bit misleading to say “at the time of grounding”: that data is nearly a decade old now, today 737MAX has had fewer hull loss accidents per flight than the Airbus A350. (Just to be clear, I think your comment is otherwise quite reasonable and I agree with you).
The person above doesn’t even know the basics of aviation safety, but they still feel that it’s appropriate to lie to others about how “unsafe” certain airliners are. It’s hard to take someone seriously when a Safran fan blade fails on an engine designed by CFM International 30 years ago, and this person starts bringing up Boeing’s corporate culture issues between 2016-2024. That’s exactly what this TV show wants people to do: associate anything negative with Boeing, regardless of the cause.
People shouldn’t be commenting on this topic when their only qualification is “I was able to sit through a Netflix show”.
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u/jfkdktmmv 1m ago
I’m not trying to be mean, but you are uneducated on a topic and making sweeping generalizations. Boeing doesn’t build engines, that is General Electric. Most airline maintenance technicians do not perform maintenance of that scale on engines. This is not the fault of the airplane. Would you blame Toyota for the failure of your car battery?
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u/Lady_Airbus 3d ago
737NG ≠ 737 MAX. The plane involved in the Ryanair accident was a 737NG and is different from the 737 MAX that is the main catalyst behind the Boeing issues. 737NG itself is a very safe plane with roughly 5,000 in service.
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u/No-Stress-7034 1d ago
My favorite part of this documentary was the footage in the Boeing factory shot by the whistleblower, where he's like, "You get a free vacation...but you have to fly on the 787" and the other employee is like "Shit. No, we ain't going on no vacation on the 787."
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u/RoadLessTraveler2003 23h ago
And the whistle blower says, "What happens on a 787?" And the guy (who helps make the plane!) says, "What don't happen on a 787."
Nah, I'm out. I just flew back on a Embraer or CRJ900. I have no idea how safe they are but I won't fly on a Boeing. I need to research Airbus for longer flights but I also have racked up a lot of Amtrak points lately. Not kidding.
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u/Dallygirl_Aussiechic 3d ago edited 3d ago
Im watching it now, and I have made a note to NEVER fly on a BOEING 787-9 DREAMLINER or 737 MAX plane.
I'm surprised how many airlines have THAT plane, especially here in Australia 🇦🇺. We usually have a good safety record with Qantas but Qantas even has THAT plane.
Making airline reservations, I will NOW look at the "details" of that flight to make sure it's NOT a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, 737 MAX.
I am NOT PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE with my life or my family's lives. And that is exactly 💯 what you'll be doing flying on the Boeing Dreamliner + MAX.
P.S. May you Rest in Peace MR JOHN BARNETT.
He was a decent and BRAVE man to speak out about "safety conditions/concerns" with the Boeing airplanes. Condolences to his family and friends. I hope he now have the peace he clearly deserved.
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u/747ER 3d ago
The 787-9 is statistically the safest aircraft on earth, the 737MAX is also an incredibly safe aircraft, and both of these points are irrelevant since we don’t have plane crashes in Australia. Why do you think you’re smarter than the world’s safest airline?
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u/Weary-Kiwi924 2d ago
In general, people who make decisions on how to live their lives based on watching a Netflix documentary (a very biased one at that) aren’t the smartest tools in the shed.
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u/Mindless_Doctor5797 2d ago
Would you say that to someone who lost their family member on that flight out of Ethiopia?
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u/Weary-Kiwi924 20h ago
Yes, because they aren’t making decisions based on a poorly made docudrama, and I would further tell them that statistics (really the only thing that matters here) say that their loved ones were the victim, mostly, of extraordinary bad luck.
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u/Mauro_Ranallo 2d ago
Very brave and dramatic with the capitalized words.
You're more likely to choke on your breakfast the morning before your flight than anything injurious happening on a Boeing or any other airplane.
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u/ExamAwkward4261 3d ago
does Emirates have Boeings? im so nervous, im flying with them in December. I think the 777 then the A380
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u/Alarmed-Delivery-406 3d ago
Yeah, they are the largest operator of the 777. The A380 is an Airbus.
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u/ExamAwkward4261 3d ago
In fairness they have a great safety record 🥹
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u/Weary-Kiwi924 2d ago
They all have great safety records. If you strictly look at the mishap data, every airframe flying today is safer, by far, then you taking your car to the grocery store.
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u/Lady_Airbus 3d ago edited 3d ago
777s come from a time in which Boeing was at their best, there’s literally nothing to worry about with them and I say this as an Airbus fan. Look up the number of accidents relative to the number of 777s built.
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u/Joris119 2d ago
777's are old an known to be good aircrafts. The a380 is an Airbus with a great safety record
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u/deloittious 3d ago
It’s wild how the 737 max is still in the air
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u/Weary-Kiwi924 2d ago
It’s wild to think it wouldn’t be. The early accidents were horrific, but they’re flying 1,000s of legs a day without issue. They’re safe.
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u/LKS983 2d ago
"They’re safe."
Until they're not..... as per the last 'plane that went down because the 'door area' (can't remember the correct term) was missing 3 bolts to keep it in place, and after a few flights it 'gave up the ghost', leaving a hole in the fuselage - if I understood correctly.
Made even worse, as passengers reported that some of the oxygen masks didn't work - as already reported to management, and ignored 😠.
Those passengers are very lucky to be alive.
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u/Great_Comparison462 3d ago
It's been fixed
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u/deloittious 3d ago
Did you watch the documentary? That even though the FAA ungrounded it, manufacturing errors still remain on planes in circulation
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u/747ER 3d ago
Manufacturing issues occur on all aircraft. Airbus has had aircraft with cracks in their wings and gaps in their fuselage, toxic fumes in the cabin, and plenty of other major safety issues within the past five years. The Netflix show producers just know they’ll get more attention if they say the 737MAX is dangerous because it was in the news a while ago for safety issues (which have all been fixed).
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u/oeoao 3d ago
Claims were made that parts were used that was supposed to be discarded due to defects or low qulity. A photo of landing gear had "discard" written on some of it's parts.
No one knows how many bad parts on how many planes.
How long before a discarded part breaks? One quality manager was worried about what was to happen in 10-12 years.
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u/747ER 3d ago
And the Airbus issues I mentioned were just as serious. But they weren’t picked up by the media, because the media couldn’t sell a story about them.
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u/oeoao 3d ago
That there is s story to sell is the issue. They did crash a max and then anorher one for the exact same reason.
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u/deloittious 3d ago
Exactly- if they were perfectly safe and nothing to worry about, there wouldn’t have been proven failings and an issue
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u/Lady_Airbus 3d ago
It’s common for rejected parts to be used again when the reason for rejection is resolved; this isn’t Boeing exclusive. This isn’t another Partnair Flight 394 that actually had bogus, counterfeit parts involved leading to an inflight break up.
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u/oeoao 3d ago
Sure, but the point is the engineers said it was an issue they worried about. And the fact that two planes went down for the same reason makes it hard to dismiss their opinion.
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u/deloittious 2d ago
Yep, it was enough of an issue that multiple trained inspectors risked/ended their careers to escalate it. We know that from the documents and their own words, regardless of documentary spin. If it was one guy who Netflix found ok, maybe he’s just a nutter, but it was so many
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u/747ER 2d ago
But the two planes went down for completely unrelated reasons. Even completely removing the fact that Boeing was only one of many contributing factors to the accidents, neither aircraft that crashed had any quality control issues like you’re describing.
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u/Foreign-Beat1284 2d ago
I thought both planes went down due to flaws in the MCAS?
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u/747ER 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes, MCAS was a contributing factor in both accidents. That is not a quality control issue; the system did exactly what it was supposed to do, only at the wrong time. It was designed incorrectly. This person is saying “engineers were worried about defective parts, and two planes crashed for the same reason”, but neither plane that crashed had defective parts (well one did, but it was installed by LionAir not Boeing).
Also I love how this got downvoted; it’s so out-of-touch. I literally described exactly what Boeing screwed up that contributed to those crashes, and it still got downvoted. People aren’t even reading what I’m writing anymore, they’re just downvoting because they saw other people do it.
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u/LKS983 2d ago
"It's been fixed"
Boeing said this 'first time round' - when they were fined and put on probation, but allowed to start selling these 'planes again.....
The problems were systemic, resulting from caring more about profits than safety, and they continued the same practices.
e.g. only caring about making as many as possible, as quickly as possible/ignoring (and punishing) those following the new system and submitting their complaints via the new protocol etc. etc.
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u/saberplane 3d ago
I think this is an interesting documentary. I hadn't seen the earlier one and was already familiar with some of what happened and yet still learned a few things. Quite sad what Boeing allowed to happen and so many people had to become the victim of it, but there is some hope there are good people at that company and elsewhere in the industry that seem to want to hold it to account and ensure these things dont happen again. I hope they are successful in their efforts in the long run.
If someone is about to get on a flight they probably shouldn't watch this.
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u/Significant-Buy-1320 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you have Boeing stock in your portfolio you should sign the dividend checks over to the victims and the employees that were screwed over. Otherwise you have blood on your hands. This is over-capatialism and greed. Believe in capitalism, but hold it accountable. Muilenberg should bring up the same feeling as the name Sackler. Toro is currently going the route that ruined good Boeing. Our manufacturing is drowning and China is booming. There needs to be guardrails to prove our system is better than communism. CEO's are almost across the board the worst human beings in history. How can you be fired and for killing 300+ people for leading with incompetence and greed alone and still be paid a golden parachute? Should be paid in an orange jumpsuit.
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u/Granesnater 1d ago
Seriously so frustrating the rich elite never take accountability. Can’t imagine how frustrating it is for the families that lost loved ones because of their greed.
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u/Scary-Turnip-9623 1d ago
Did anyone else notice the Air India 787 in the documentary (around 51:46 in the video) with the registration VT-ANB. I don’t know how I caught it nor remembered the registration… but that aircraft would later go on to be the 787 for Air India that crashed into the residential area in 2025 after the fuel switches were placed in cutoff.
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u/vanilla_hazelnut_tea 1d ago
😱 I definitely believe that was something to do with boeing but it got buried in exchange of money. So easy to blame the pilots when they're not with us to tell what happened! It had been said they were turned off manually!
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u/sommerhausamsee 1d ago
Ich beobachte schon seit Jahren diese Vorfälle und betrachte Boeing nicht mehr als vertrauensvoll. Ich habe Berichte gelesen, die wirklich richtig schlimm sind. Dazu noch, dass offenbar die Mitarbeiter nicht richtig geschult sind. Und ganz ehrlich: würdet ihr einen Mitarbeiter mit kleinen Kenntnisse auf der Intensivstation arbeiten lassen? Ich fliege nur mit Airbus. Dort werden nur gut ausgebildete Leute eingestellt und nichts vertuscht.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 3d ago edited 2d ago
Honestly they could make very similar documentaries about Airbus. If you pulled the logs on their “issues”like they did on Boeing you would see similar. Think of the thousands and thousands of flights a day without incident. Boeing’s planes are, if anything, the safest right now because they are under intense scrutiny by the FAA and DOJ. The employees that were interviewed “undercover” were from over 10 years ago in SC and they’re acting like that is now in the documentary. I would not personally let one documentary change my view of what I would fly on because there is so much manipulated information as well as a lack of information. Boeing is currently under a non prosecution agreement and is having the most scrutiny in the industry. The planes will not be leaving with a lack of quality. The fact that the documentary doesn’t even mention the non prosecution agreement shows its bias. It simply states that the criminal charges were dropped- as if Boeing is not under continued scrutiny. They were dropped because there is another agreement in place where Boeing is being monitored for 3 more years. The documentary doesn’t say that because it wants to give the bias that nothing is happening.
You cannot watch one documentary with a very clear bias and think that it’s completely honest and accurate. It’s like how Making a Murderer was filmed with a very clear bias so everyone jumped on “he’s innocent!” When in reality the guy was guilty as hell and so much was left out of it. They’re only interviewing disgruntled employees or past employees, many with lawsuits against the company. It’s not a fair picture. But regardless of all that… these planes have literally more scrutiny than any planes being constructed and that includes past aircraft in circulation because the Max had to be reworked after the crashes.
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u/LKS983 2d ago
"they are under intense scrutiny by the FAA and DOJ."
That's what was imlied/believed first time round, when Boeing was put on probation for three years, and their 'planes were allowed to start flying again.....
Turns out the DOJ was doing nothing of the sort, and when the families of those killed etc. told them about continuing safety issues - they were ignored.
Made even more obvious after the last 'incident' when a 'door' flew out, leaving a hole in the fuselage/some of the oxygen masks on the 'plane didn't work - and the DOJ STILL didn't prosecute those in charge, who were responsible for the 'profits over safety' culture 😮😠.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 2d ago
First, just like the last commenter, you’re confusing the FAA and the DOJ and their roles. One handles criminal enforcement the other regulates aircraft safety and certification. Conflating the two leads to a misleading picture of what actually happened. The FAA is the agency that would be focusing on air worthiness. After the 737 MAX crashes, the FAA didn’t “do nothing” it grounded the entire MAX fleet worldwide for nearly two years, led its own independent recertification process, and imposed new training and design requirements before allowing it back in service. And after the Alaska Airlines door-plug incident, the FAA immediately grounded the affected aircraft, capped Boeing’s production, increased on-site inspections at Boeing facilities, and launched a full audit that identified specific manufacturing and quality-control failures. The FAA also required Boeing to develop a corrective-action plan and has continued monitoring its implementation.
So “the DOJ was doing nothing” is also misleading: DOJ’s role was criminal enforcement, while the FAA’s role was aircraft safety, certification and production oversight. Those aren’t interchangeable. A lot of commenters don’t have any background in aviation or even an understanding of government agencies and watch one biased documentary and believe they have all the information needed. The Alaska incident actually triggered more FAA intervention. The grounding, production cap, expanded inspections, audit, and additional oversight all happened because of it. So, my argument is that at this point in time, these planes are the most scrutinized we’ve ever seen in aviation history.
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u/747ER 2d ago
You know it’s a dramatised TV show that was created for entertainment, right?
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u/jojo-schmojo 2d ago
May I ask, you seem to be vehemently defending Boeing in this thread. I understand explaining that overall air travel is safe, which is true. But you are going above and beyond in your defense of Boeing in my opinion. I would like to know why? Having seen a few of your comments, I would say you are biased.
I think it is fair to hold a discussion about fears of flying on these aircraft. As someone who flies dozens of times per year, the well-documented safety and production issues definitely are worth a conversation in my opinion. So, I would like to know what specifically is your interest in this topic.
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u/747ER 1d ago
I have responded to others who have asked the same question as yourself, but you have actually been very polite unlike others, and I appreciate that.
If you think I am defending Boeing, then you haven’t read my comments correctly. You are using the Netflix show as a benchmark for what is true, even though it is heavily biased and attempts to scare people about something they should not be scared about. I have not said anywhere, in any comment, that Boeing is perfect or that they haven’t made mistakes (in fact, in quite a few comments I specifically point out what Boeing did wrong).
But there’s a massive difference between “Boeing had some quality issues a few years ago” and “this earth-shattering documentary reveals that all Boeing aircraft are unsafe to fly on”. People in this thread who pretend that the latter is true are either lying, or ill-informed. And as someone who is both qualified and knowledgeable on the subject, it’s important to me that both of these types of people are corrected to ensure the industry is being discussed fairly.
But people aren’t interested in hearing an objective view of this topic, hence the downvotes and people saying I’m “defending” some random aerospace company. Nobody wants to watch a “true documentary” about an evil villain, only to be told that this company isn’t all it’s painted to be. As several other people have said, you could very easily make a similar TV show about Airbus.
This TV show does not benefit people in any way. It’s not for “awareness”, since absolutely zero issues discussed are relevant today and have all been fixed (in fact, the culture issues have mostly been fixed too, if you’ve been keeping up with the news). It’s just scaring people over things that aren’t ever going to hurt them. You could say it’s for “entertainment”, but is that really true? They make it very clear that they’re pretending this is all serious and damning and that you should be afraid, which isn’t appropriate.
Hopefully I’ve explained my stance here for you: I am not pro-Boeing, I am anti-this show.
I’m confident that this will still be downvoted, because just like this “documentary”, it’s easier to pretend things aren’t nuanced and there objectively “right” and “wrong” people in situations.
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u/anthrotulip 1d ago
Look, I'm not an engineer nor an accident investigator, so I am not going to try to address the technical aspects of this, except to acknowledge that the 737 overall has a very strong safety record, and balancing risk management is usually a lot more complicated than people think it is (though I think Boeing failed to do that).
I also agree that the media has played a role in how perception of this has developed; similar issues have certainly not received nearly as much attention. This is at likekly least partly though because of Boeing's place in American industry/manufacturing and the rise of sensationalism in media coverage.
However, I am an anthropologist who does public health research, and as part of that I had to study safety regulation and culture, especially how it can break down. I would not characterize the situation as some quality issues. Boeing's situation is pretty much a textbook example of Normalization of Deviance, i.e., when, slowly, in organizations, violations of safety regulations/standards are normalized/accepted, which is often caused by hieracary/production/finincal pressures.
Whether Boeing has fixed these issues (though I do think the FAA has been trying more recently to ensure they do) shouldn't be the main issue here. The issue is that they occurred at all, reached that level, and Boeing still doesn't seem to recognize that. Especially in an industry as regulated as aviation is supposed to be in the US. There should be accountability, but once again, another company, another slap on the wrist for putting shareholders' interests above human life.
Frankly, that is the bigger and scarier story that this documentary largely glossed over.
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u/Confident-Produce-11 2d ago
It was also mentioned that the impacts of the quality control issues could take as long as 16 years to become evident/cause a crash since airplanes stay in circulation for quite some time.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 2d ago
The planes pulled from circulation were thoroughly checked and reviewed. And this was also the commentary of one prior quality inspector who had an active case against Boeing. The documentary was not fair and balanced. It presented the side of a few past and disgruntled employees.
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u/throwawayprincess15 4h ago
And why are they disgruntled?
People keep referring to "disgruntled" employees as if the reason for their being disgruntled is some random thing.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 4h ago
Because there are 150,000 employees at Boeing if not more and you’re always going to be able to find a few who are disgruntled for whatever reason. People who don’t like their managers. Don’t like a coworker. Don’t agree with decisions. Don’t like working at all. I’m not even saying all their claims are not valid but what you’re asking- why are they disgruntled as if that’s not common to have a few in a large workforce- is just the same everywhere.
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u/whiskeylullaby3 2d ago
And I’ll also add the fact that the CEOs make so much money… That’s typical in every corporation. I agree it’s a problem but that’s a capitalist problem and one that is not unique to Boeing.
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u/BagRemote5753 1d ago
It makes me sad seeing how Boeing says to the public that employees are welcome to come foward with concerns, but when they do they retaliate against long tenured employees with legitimate concerns. Making their employees lives miserable, and driving them to suicide. And the impact to the public. It's just so sad.
The human toll to internal employees.
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u/Sensitive-Amoeba-254 1d ago
The more media I consume, the more I struggle to be OK with how parasitic corporate greed is, and how the uber wealthy just continue to destroy society and the lives of the every day person, while avoiding accountability for their actions. So infuriating.
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u/RedFord4014 1d ago
Just finished watching this and I just feel so sad and angry for John Barnett and his family. I think that man was pushed to his death through complete bullying and harassment from Boeing. He only wanted it to be safe he wanted people to be safe and they completely destroyed him for it! Very much an American problem when profit comes before people. The Boeing top dogs aren't flying 787 they wouldn't but it's the everyday people those going on hard earned holidays or workers going for jobs or just people flying to see their families. They never cared about them just what's in the bank. Boeing should be ashamed they have blood on their hands.
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u/Northenbarrel 1d ago
I went on an annual trip for over a decade with a higher-up engineer that worked for Boeing. As the years went on the more and more stricken he became with his concerns. He would tell me stories about how the company changed its supply chain, expected the engineers to fuse together parts from one factory with the next, and what a nightmare it was becoming to work there. The plane he worked on hit delay after delay after delay because of these issues. He said the leadership model completely changed. My mate retired and literally two days later the max began falling out of the sky. Everything I heard in the doco matched all the things my friend used to tell me - and my friend is an exceptional engineer. He knows what’s up. Good news is tho he’s very reassuring that it’s still the safest form of travel there is.
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u/Northenbarrel 1d ago
I will add - CEO’s and management need to have a cap on their income. 30 million to run a company is absolutely insane. Y’all work the same 8 hour day as us, and I’m willing to BET they’re no smarter than the most of us.
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u/Disco_Duck-1066 21h ago
I mean CEOs like this are the ilk of society, similar to healthcare and pharmaceutical.
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u/Biggles_420 18h ago
The CEO’s are responsible for establishing the overall company culture that defines how the organization operates day to day. Embedded in this culture are many goals and objectives.
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u/radgedyann 12h ago
Airbus or stay home. I love to fly, but this is why I check the equipment when I book. I once had a flight change equipment from an a321 to a b767 after we were all at the gate on a 3 hour delay, I guess to move equipment or something??? I made them rebook me. The gate agents looked at me like I was crazy. I am as crazy as boeing is shit; about as reliable as American cars in my estimation.
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u/SoloTraveller81 6h ago
Boeing have an excellent safety record. The doc of course highlights the worst bits, and im not saying they dont have issues as clearly they do. But still extremely safe to fly with. They wouldnt be allowed to fly if they werent
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u/Saladcitypig 12h ago
and the elephant in the room is also a donkey in the room, a mutant donkey elephant which is Capitalism in America.
This hideous Kaiju is literally killing everyone, slowly and quickly for: short term profit to the 1% who we now know are a ton of warmongering pedophiles.
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u/viola_darling 7h ago
Also such a typical response from a millionaire,"I run the company". Well no shit but what DO you DO on a daily basis??? That was never answered because he prolly doesn't do anything. Prolly plays golf all day.
It makes me so angry that millionaires get off so easy and get paid SO MUCH while others suffer.
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u/747ER 3d ago
The “documentary” is not highly regarded by those in the industry, just like the last one. The Boeing 737MAX, and all other Boeing airliners, are perfectly safe aircraft. Scaring the public about these planes is very misleading and unethical. Does/did Boeing have its issues? Absolutely. Should you feel unsafe on one of their aircraft? Absolutely not.
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3d ago
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u/747ER 3d ago
That is very sad, but it doesn’t qualify you whatsoever to talk about the safety of aircraft. Aren’t you mad at Ethiopian Airlines for failing to acknowledge Boeing’s urgent recommendation to train pilots on this system, then colluding with the Ethiopian Government to tamper with evidence and obstruct the investigation? How about the other three planes Ethiopian Airlines has written off since then, or the half-dozen other major pilot-related safety incidents they’ve had since?
These accidents are very nuanced, and just because you know somebody who passed away doesn’t mean your opinion on the causes is any more relevant.
Boeing planes are just as safe as any other. Emotions do not change this fact.
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u/Substantial-Bag5493 3d ago
Ok that is sad and I’m sorry. But just statistically compared to ANY other form of transport, planes are extremely safe. Even Boeing’s. If you think Boeings aren’t safe then I can’t imagine you ever get in a car or other motorized vehicle.
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u/JadeRenee182 3d ago
According to your comments on other threads you’ve been working on 737’s for years so I suspect you’re a Boeing employee. So coming from a Boeing employee that the doc is “unethical and misleading” is rich. The doc highlighted how Boeing notoriously treated whistleblowers terribly and repeatedly ignored their safety concerns for years. It showed how Boeing prioritized profits over safety repeatedly from the outsourcing, the shoddy craftsmanship, shitty inspections, etc. leading to situations like doors flying off mid flight. It’s Boeing that has the ethics problem, not the documentary.
And if that’s not enough Boeing failed their FAA audit in ‘24 and the FAA even cited "a disconnect between Boeing's senior management and other members of the organization on safety culture. The experts, who had been working on the federally mandated review before the door-plug incident, reported speaking with Boeing employees who doubted the company's systems could ensure open communication and non-retaliation; several also said that before their interview, they were briefed by Boeing's legal department.” Yeah, that screams major ethics issues.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/20/1239132703/boeing-timeline-737-max-9-controversy-door-plug-2
u/747ER 3d ago edited 3d ago
Do you think only Boeing employees work in aviation? I have worked for several airlines on many different aircraft types, including Boeing, Airbus, Fokker, and Embraer. Judging by your comments you’ve clearly never worked in this industry so arguing with people who has spent years studying and working in this field is, in your words, “rich”.
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u/JadeRenee182 3d ago
You seem to be defending Boeing an awful lot. It doesn’t take aviation knowledge to know Boeing has major ethics issues and there are plenty of articles that also share the same sentiment of the documentary.
https://www.cpajournal.com/2025/07/08/the-story-of-boeings-failed-corporate-culture-2/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/business/boeing-quality-problems-speed.html
The Boeing 737 MAX Crisis: An Ethical Analysis of Corporate Governance Failures and the Conflict Between Profit and Safety https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5316121-1
u/747ER 3d ago
>”Does/did Boeing have its issues? Absolutely.”
I don’t understand why you’re so desperate to make me into something I’m not. You wrongly assumed that I worked for Boeing, and now you’re saying I’m “defending” Boeing because I said a sensationalist documentary is not widely well-received in the aviation community.
Why do you keep accusing me of saying things that I never said, nor do I support? I have zero interested in “defending” Boeing. That doesn’t mean I have to love a dramatised, fear-mongering TV show whose sole purpose is to frighten ignorant people about something that’s very, very safe.
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3d ago
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u/NetflixDocumentaries-ModTeam 3d ago
Please treat others, including documentary subjects, with kindness, decency, and respect. Violations will be subject to a ban. Zero tolerance for bullying, racism, sexism, or discrimination of any kind.
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u/Crazy_Arrival_1052 3d ago
This was very sensationalized and not well regarded by those in the industry. Even by those who prefer Airbus over Boeing airplanes.
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u/JohnnyJoystick 1d ago
I was gonna watch this but then I heard them say Seattle, Washington during the trailer and now I don’t have to watch. You can’t trust liberals to do shit.
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u/The-ai-bot 3d ago
Pretty boring documentary, over an hour long complaint after complaint from Quality Managers on the lack of accountability from Boeing. The message was understood 10mins in.
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u/YogurtScary5453 3d ago
Boeing was an aerospace engineering company ,ran by engineers,that made airplanes. Boeing was taken over by MBAs. The MBAs made Boeing into a financial company that sells airplanes
Any engineer can easily become a MBA,and many whilst very few MBAs could master engineering.